Disney Tween Queen Is One Of The 'Girls'

It's not a huge stretch for Raven, star of the Disney Channel comedy "That's So Raven," to appear in a musical feature film "The Cheetah Girls."

"I've always done music," says Raven. "And this is just another venture for me to show people that I can do it."

Mostly, Raven, formerly known as Raven-Symone, is known for her acting, first on "The Cosby Show" as Olivia, and then as Nicole in "Hangin' With Mr. Cooper." After playing Eddie Murphy's daughter in both "Dr. Dolittle" films, she's been a rising star at the Disney Channel.

With Hilary Duff's departure from the Disney Channel, it looks like Raven stands alone as the channel's tween queen.

But in "Cheetah Girls" she's part of a group that pursues a common goal in music, despite varied backgrounds.

Based on the popular chapter books by Deborah Gregory, "The Cheetah Girls" also stars Sabrina Bryan, from the soap opera "The Bold and the Beautiful," as well as Kiely Williams and Adrienne Bailon, who are two-thirds of the R&B trio 3LW.

3LW is like the Cheetah Girls, says Adrienne.

"We're so different but we're able to come together to do something that we loved, which was doing music."

The third member of 3LW isn't in the show because founding member Naturi Naughton left the group just before the release of last year's "A Girl Can Mack" (she says she was forced out).

"We just suffered a breakup, and the movie opportunity came about," Kiely says. "So that was a perfect opportunity for us to jump into a movie while we were transitioning, trying to find a new member. And actually, right after we finished the movie, we started searching for a new member and found her."

Jessica Benson joined 3LW in December.

"She's really excited about the movie," says Kiely. "She's all excited about going to the premiere."

For author Gregory, seeing the creations from her book make the move to film was emotional. "You know, I cried," she says. "It was kind of amazing to see it."

That worked for the young actors, too. "We're living what she dreamed of," says Kiely. "It's an inspiration for us."

* "Cheetah Girls" airs at 8 tonight on the Disney Channel.

Roger Catlin is a reporter for The Hartford Courant, a Tribune Publishing newspaper.